Kanako Urashima
Kanako Urashima (浦島 可奈子 Urashima Kanako) is Keitaro’s younger sister. Adopted into the Urashima Family when she was a child, Kanako never came to see Keitaro as a brother, growing to love him due to his understanding nature. When they promised to run an inn together when they grew up, she had assumed it would be as husband and wife. In Keitaro’s absence, Kanako was sent by Hina Urashima to act as temporary manager of the Hinata Apartments while he studied abroad. Her black cat, Kuro, accompanies her wherever she goes. Appearance Kanako prefers to conduct herself professionally in whatever she does; as such she maintains a strict/serious air about her that often alienates the more relaxed tenants of the Hinata dorms. Preferring to wear clothes of a more elegant, gothic trend; Kanako’s hobby of performing impersonations, which she has perfected to an art, leads her to wear whatever is required to impersonate her target. She even wears a turtle costume at one stage to take advantage of Motoko Aoyama’s turtle phobia. Training with her grandmother in the Urashima Style of Jujutsu has also led to Kanako becoming a formidable martial artist; able to match her skills with the likes of Motoko Aoyama on several occasions. Plot Manga Arriving at the Hinata Apartments six months after Keitaro left to study abroad, Kanako immediately sets to studying the apartments and its residents in preparation for its transformation into an Inn. Disguising herself as Naru while she was away, Kanako conducted some more invasive research (such as physically checking Kitsune’s breast size, Shinobu’s panties and Motoko’s sexual preference). She was eventually discovered, however, when the real Naru returned only to receive the backlash from Kanako-Naru’s invasions. Announcing herself as the new landlord in her brother’s absence, Kanako attempted to explain that she was shutting down the apartments and changing it back into an Inn, however the girls leapt to the conclusion that she was shutting down and demolishing the building (due to the arrival of construction crews) and attempted to disrupt the construction crews only to be individually subdued by Kanako. When she managed to reveal her plans to the Hinata residents she allowed them to stay if they worked as employees for the Inn. However, the girls buckle under various circumstances and one by one leave until only Naru and Kanako remained, although they all eventually returned to support each other as a family. Despite attempts to get along, various misunderstandings and Kanako’s desire to have her brother to herself; not to mention her inset hatred towards the “Promise Girl”, the Hinata dorms eventually fell into chaos with Kitsune and her supporters vying for control of the dormitory against Kanako and her supporters. Before the dorms were destroyed, however, Keitaro’s timely return ceased the conflict however it brought up a rivalry between Kanako and Naru over Keitaro. The rivalry intensified when Keitaro accidentally proposed to Kanako (thinking she was Naru) in the Forbidden Annex. Despite the Annex’s magic, Keitaro continued pursuing Naru; breaking the spell and declaring to Kanako that he only saw her as a sister despite her feelings about him. Anime Character Design Kanako was initially supposed to be Chinese, an idea that was scrapped fairly quickly. Other than that, her design didn't change that much from the initial plan, aside from her being a bit taller than originally intended. Concept Gallery File:Kanako_Concept.png|Concept Art of Kanako File:Kanako_Concept_2.png|Concept Art of Kanako File:Kanako_Concept_3.png|Concept Art of Kanako File:Kanako_Chinese.png|Concept Art of Kanako when she was supposed to be Chinese File:Kanako_Offstage.png|Concept Art of Kanako and Kuro File:LHAKanakoconcept.jpg|Concept Art from Love Hina Again File:LHAKanakoconcept2.jpg|Concept Art from Love Hina Again Gallery File:Kanako2.jpg| File:Kanako.jpg| File:Group1.jpg| File:LoveHina11.jpg| File:KanakoMutsumiSarah.jpg| File:KissKanako.jpg| File:cartoonpg29jb.png| File:cartoonpg43mv.png| File:cartoonpg65zp.png| File:DVDCoverAgain.jpg File:YoungKanako.jpg| File:KeitaroKanako.jpg| File:KanakoChocolate.jpg| File:HarukaKanako.jpg| Trivia *While Kanako occupies Keitaro’s room during his absence, it is unknown which room she lives in the manga after his return to the Hinata Apartments. Though, it is revealed that, in the anime, she has moved into a room in the Hinata Café. *In the anime, Kanako’s appearance is often accompanied by the sound of a bell carried on the tail of her cat, Kuro. *In addition to her skill with impersonations, Kanako is also an accomplished ventriloquist. *Kanako as a child looks almost identical to Nodoka Miyazaki from Mahou Sensei Negima. *During her investigations of the apartments, Kanako managed to find and acquire Mecha-Tama Zero and used it on various occasions against the Hinata girls. In the anime she finds and acquires the mini-Mecha-Tamas to use against the residents instead. Category:Characters